I Want Us to All Stop Waxing Down There For the Summer (Or Ever)

Swimsuit season is on the horizon that means many of you have
already made an appointment with your favorite waxer. I’m here to tell you,
don’t do it. Let’s ride the 2017 wave of feminine power and say no to
bikini waxes.

Hear me out: Some of you are having the same reaction my
husband did when I told him we should all stop waxing and shaving our nethers …
“Ewwww!” But I want to know why it’s
ewwww? We all have hair there for a reason, right? Do we shave the hair on our
heads so it doesn’t peek out of our hats? No! So why do we fight what mother
nature or father pervy has put in our pubic area?

Let’s take our pubes back! So what if a few stray curlies sneak
out while we’re at the beach or lounging by the pool? It’s a natural part of
our bodies that we’ve been conditioned to think is gross or shameful but in
reality is put there to protect our lady bits from dirt, bacteria and viruses.

Whilst pondering pubes, I started doing some research to find out
when this trend started and why so many women wax away or groom their bikini
line. I personally think the trend gained mass appeal with the popularity of
the Brazilian.

Remember that "Sex and The City" episode where the girls get waxed? Who can forget how invigorated and powerful they all felt?
Then suddenly, and honestly, they felt an itchy regret. Who’s been there?
*slowly raises hand*

The Brazilian became popular in NYC in the '90s when the J
Sisters started waxing the undersides of the New York elite. One of the sisters
says she saw hair protruding from a woman’s bikini while on vacation and was “horrified.” So she experimented on
herself and developed the Brazilian. The specialty service boomed into a $6 million
business and has become a staple of many bathing suit season
routines.

Only 4.1 percent of women reported not trimming or
removing any pubic hair, leaving 95 percent of the women with groomed, trimmed or
removed pubic hair.

Studies show that pubic hair
grooming is becoming increasingly common. In 2016, researchers reported in JAMA Dermatology that 84 percent of the American women who
took part in their survey had done some grooming, with 62 percent removing all of
their pubic hair. Younger women were much more likely to groom than the
over-forties.

In a study from The Journal of Sexual Medicine (yes,
this is a thing), conducted among 2,400 sexually active women under the age of
30, 88 percent of the women ages 18 to 24 reported removing some to all of their pubic
hair, while 59 percent of the women reported their pubic hair status as typically or
sometimes completely hair-free.

In a similar study from the JSM, 49.8 percent of the women
reported being typically hair-free. Only 4.1 percent of women reported not trimming or
removing any pubic hair, leaving 95 percent of the women with groomed, trimmed or
removed pubic hair.

Now before you filet me for my scientific feminist rant, let me
say I do understand why some women would simply feel more comfortable having
fewer hairs down there. No one wants to sit on a fur coat at the beach. In this
post I’m specifically talking to women who feel like they have to go bare,
because they’re embarrassed that someone will see their hair. Don’t be! It’s
part of who we are as women, and you don’t have to be ashamed of a protruding
pube or two. Or five.

Whether you shave it for yourself, your man or your co-worker Steve, it’s up to
you.

An article on the Scientific American website notes
that in recent years, as more people have trimmed or eliminated their pubic
hair, incidences of pubic lice—more commonly known as crabs—have decreased.
However, reports of chlamydia and gonorrhea have gone up.

Your choice!

That being said, personal grooming is a, well, personal choice.
Whether you shave it for yourself, your man or your co-worker Steve, it’s up to
you. I just want to empower those women who feel like it’s embarrassing or
gross to have pubic hair and let them know it’s not and shouldn’t be.

Right now, I just want us all to agree to take back our pubes. Who’s ready to
organize a march on behalf of the short and curlies? I think everyone already has hats that would
work.